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A successful personal training business is all about a combination of various sales elements that contribute to new sale and renewal business. Up until this month the River Valley Club in Hanover New Hamphshire held the PFP record in both areas. $199,000 in total department sales and $157,000 in renewal sales for a single month with a club of 2000 members.

When you consider that The Athletic Club in Guelph Ontario Canada is only in their second year with the Pro Fitness Program personal training sales system, and you add into the mix the month of June and a recession, you come up with the single greatest perfromance in PFP history. Fitness Director Ryan Flesch and his team of Consultants and Trainers wrote an incredible $271,772 in personal training sales for June with $196,341 coming from renewals.

Two of Ryan's Trainers broke the previous single month Trainer sales record of Chris Poljacik of the River Valley Club at $39,000. Chris Kopichanski wrote $41,342 with a combination of three 144 packs and two 72 packs. In the end, Chrisitian Stoneman set the new record with an amazing four 144 pack sales and a single 208 session sale to finish with $42,566!! Congratualtions to both of you; you are obvioulsy exceptional Trainers who know how to provide value, variety and entertainment, and who are not afraid to demand the best from your clients by asking for long term committed relationships that lead to real results for life.

The Athletic Club's Fitness Consultants Shine in June

In order for a personal training business to be outstanding it must rely heavily on new personal training sales. In the past we've had numerous Fitness Consultants from a club chain write some big numbers. Club Fit in Edmonton Alberta used the Pro Fitness Program to grow their personal training departments to well over $60,000 per month in each of their 5 locations. However at no time in history have we seen a performance like June 2009 at the Athletic Clubs.

In 5 different locations Fitness Consultants from the Athletic Clubs wrote over $20,000 each in new personal training business. Jeff Steinmetz from the Brantford club led the way with $31,232 followed closely by FC Andrew Durand from the North location at $31,173. Lisa Dawn Murison at the North location wrote an impressive $30,950 with Barb DeCook from Amherstburg with $25,525 and Jordan Sharpe from the South location at $23,078 rounding up the record month.

These clubs are in a variety of different markets with vast differences in demographics and size and yet the consistency of performance is a testament to the number one personal training sales system in the world today and the only one guaranteed to grow your personal training business beyond belief!

How do you define success? We all strive to be successful in our field but how do you know when you are successful? Also, how do you determine when your personal training business needs to change direction? I'm pretty sure I know how to answer both of these questions. It's called bottom line profitability!

At the River Valley Club, we measure ourselves based on several things. Inreased personal training sales revenue from the past year, billable training hours and smiles on our member's faces; this all equates to improving people's lives daily. Oh, and by the way 1.8 million dollars in personal training sales in one year with 2000 members is pretty good also!! All of this has occured due to the number one personal training business system, the Pro Fitness Program.

When we first started with Jeff Russo and his personal training sales system 9 years ago, we were grossing just over $60,000 a year. I laugh out loud when I hear that number today.The tipping point for us came after just one year with the Pro Fitness Program going from $69,000 to $215,000. In year 3 we grossed $407,000 in personal training sales, and in year 4 an amazing $765, 000 again with only 2000 members. Yes, these are real numbers from our personal training department and you can call me or the owner Joe Asch to confirm anytime you like.

The Pro Fitness Program is the answer to selling personal training. They have developed a system that drives quality service and personal training sales. The program helped us change our culture here at RVC from being a facility that sells health club memberships to a health club that now sells results and relationships. Due to a shift in our philosophy, we have become a leader in the indsustry in personal training sales. We truly believe that everyone can and will benefit from working with a personal trainer.

Working closely with Jeff and his team of Fitness Business Consultants over the past 9 years has been a wonderful experience. From Sean Walpole, to Vince Delmonte to James Manson, the Pro-Fitness Program team has kept it fresh and exciting and has provided a variety of training and business experience. Not only has RVC grown and developed as an outstanding personal training business, but with the growth of the Pro Fitness Program, my husband Chris Poljacik and I have developed the PFP's number 1 approved personal training certification -MTS (Movement Training Specialist)

The MTS certification provides Trainers with the knowledge they need to keep renewals high and keep clients coming back. Last month our Trainers combined renewals and floor sales to produce $130,000. How many clubs can count on their team to deliver this level of personal training sales on a consistent basis? For more information regarding MTS please visit our web site at www.mtspecialist.com.

MTS is offering a Level 1 certification at the River Valley Club, Hanover, NH. Sept. 26th and 27th. Space is limited so you should sign up on line today to reserve your spot. If you're an existing Pro Fitness Program client ask for your preferred vendor discount.

Our personal training business model is very much dependent on the successful integration between the membership and personal training departments. I would suggest that successful new personal training sales are 70% dependent on the way your Membership Rep interviews, tours and presents the club's programs. With the Pro Fitness Program personal training system, we sell based on education, results and knowledge as opposed to just facility and price.

By now we all know the benfits of using a personal needs analysis form (Guest Register) in the interview process to uncover objections, reinforce needs and wants and build rapport. That's a great first step to segue into our trade mark 20 page Fitness Consultation Journals that ever new member takes home with them. If this tool is used effectively in combination with our assessment printouts and temporary access cards, we create a unique selling propostion (USP) that greatly differentiates us from the competition.

Even in the event that the prospect in not ready to commit to a membership, the visual tools and aids that we train each Membership Rep to use effectively will leave a lasting impression when they visit the competition. By the way, I can't begin to tell you how many memberships I've sold using this program without ever touring the facility. They came in to get results and I was able to demonstrate our ability to offer service, education and guaranteed results - any facility and equipment will do just fine!

When our company realized how much our personal training system and overall personal training sales are dependent on the new member experience, we made the decision to develop another aid to the process. Since we build so much value in our membership presentations, and many tours end up taking anywhere from 30 minutes to as much as an hour, a lot of information is forgotten by the time the client leaves. As a result, we decided to put together an audio presentation of what a client should be searching for when making a decision to purchase a fitness membership.

This MP3 is ideal for prospects to listen to at home or in the car on the way to see the next club. If you have the Pro-Fitness Program personal training system, the message will fully support the way you present memberships and your core philosophy of selling service and results above all else. Simply contact your Pro Fitness Business Consultant to receive a link to the audio presentation which you can then burn to CD or simply email to new prospects.

Since I joined the company over 4 years ago, it's amazing to see how many different business support materials the company now provides for all of the various departments in the club. It's little wonder why the Pro-Fitness Program is the leader in North America in personal training sales and member experience.

What do you do if you're a Fitness Consultant or Personal Trainer and membership sales are down, it's the summer time and it's difficult to get members to come in for re-assessments, and you're having a problem achieving your monthly goals in terms of number of completed consultations?

First of all, I would make sure your Membership Reps and Club Manager are doing everything possible to market to as many different groups as possible at all times. My business consulting team wrote a series of marketing articles for Fitness Business Canada called "Who Are You Marketing To?", and you can access them at www.edgefitnessconsulting.com if you click on About Us and Edge Articles. There are so many examples of low cost marketing programs that will immediately have an impact on increasing membership sales.

At the same time I would never just depend on the Membership Department for leads and consultations. As a Fitness Business Consultant I have worked with over 60 fitness club organizations in the USA and Canada. Fitness Business Consulting 101 will teach you that one of the most effective ways to market your club is through your fitness department. The best message for a prospect to receive involves weight loss and guaranteed fitness and wellness results. Market your fitness centers and Fitness Consultants similar to a weight loss center or nutritional clinic and you'll see the difference in terms of the quality of prospect that walks through your door. With this kind of marketing, prospects have their initial club experience through the Fitness Consultation office and not a Membership Sales office. In many cases clients will end up purchasing assessment packages and personal training prior to the membership. That's only if your club's vision involves selling education, results and knowledge not just facilities and memberships.

Personal Trainers and Fitness Consultants have a lot of down time when you consider client cancellations and no shows. In order to increase personal training sales we have to better utilize our fitness professionals and keep them accountable for the business side of the relationship. In all of my years of presenting at fitness conferences and speaking with thousands of Personal Trainers, I've always empahsized the importance of being a well rounded fitness business professional not just technician or Trainer. 80% of any Personal Trainer's success will come from skills in human engineering (communication, listening, personality, energy, integrity) with only 15% coming from skills in technical engineering. Yet we spend so much time and energy on certifications and more and more technical learning. Any of our PFP Clients can request a video on my NEHRSA key note presentation on 'the Successful Qualities and not Qalifications of a Successful Personal Trainer' by emailing a request to our Administrator through this web site.

If you're an existing PFP client I want you to contact your Fitness Business Consutant today to discuss our new 5 step marketing plan to generate leads and personal training sales from your personal training department. These are low cost, highly effective programs that will allow you to exceed your summer sales targets and keep pace with many of our top PFP locations that are generating between $70,000 -$160,000 per month in pt sales through these supposed slower periods.

I recently had an indepth conversation with a manager from one of our Pro-Fitness Program facilities regarding their ability to sell the AC to all new members, especially those who have been a member before, or fall into that small group of seasoned pros who feel that they do not require the service. She felt, as many people do, that presenting a mandatory service to these people could result in lost membership sales. Obviously an important issue. I would like to take a moment to address this concern because it is not uncommon, and it is not unreasonable. However, there is a simple solution to the issue.

"I can't give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all of the time. - Herbert Bayard Swope

I have been working with fitness companies in the area of sales and management for most of my adult life and there is one truth that I have seen demonstrated time after time. When you present a fabulous, key component of a membership experience with passion and enthusiasm, people will register with excitement and show up to all appointments. If you try to bury something in the fees and slide it in at the end of the presentation, the person will feel like you are trying to deceive and mislead them and even if they purchase they will not attend. Finally, if you tell them that it is mandatory; they will always refuse.

The secret to successful AC sales by membership is no secret at all. Sales people need to feel confidant in the service which they are promoting, the FC who will be providing the service, and that the ownership FULLY BELIEVES that a full service fitness evaluation is the only ethical way of serving our valued clients. If they are not fully confidant in these items, they cannot possibly provide the enthusiasm which the new members require in order to make the correct decisions.

Please feel free to comment or to contact me directly if you have any questions.

When the Pro-Fitness Program was initially launched at one of our client facilities in January of this year, we had established that two of the existing Personal Trainers would transition into the Fitness Consultant role. Of these two, one would be part time and the other would transition into a full time position. However, an issue became clear early on. Why would a Personal Trainer leave the relative financial security and stability of PT clients and Group Exercise for the performance driven pay structure of the FC office?

We had set some targets for the Program, the most important of which was a minimum of fifty completed Fitness Consultations each month. At that number of appointments, any FC could earn very well, even if they are only closing at 15%. However, the lure of PT and group exercise was too much for the FC's who found themselves only completing an average of 20 appointments between the two of them. Failing to reach the target of 50 had a disastrous effect on the club's bottom line.

A Fitness Consultant must be a full time, designated sales position, completing 4-5 appointmnets per day, approached like business. Do you have a sales professional in your FC office?